US 'not satisfied' with M23 withdrawal from Congo town, official says

Dec 23 - The Trump administration is not satisfied with the Rwanda-backed M23's withdrawal from a strategic town in eastern Congo, a senior U.S. official told Reuters, as residents reported persistent clashes nearby on Tuesday.

M23 seized the town of Uvira, near the border with Burundi, on December 10, days after Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame met President Donald Trump in Washington and reaffirmed a U.S.-brokered peace deal.

The capture marked the rebels' biggest advance in months, fueling fears of regional spillover from fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands since January.

After U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Rwanda's actions in mineral-rich eastern Congo were violating the peace deal, M23 last week pledged to withdraw to give peace talks a chance.

While most M23 combatants have left Uvira itself, Washington is "not satisfied" that the group has fully withdrawn, the senior U.S. official said.

"There has been some movement, but we don't feel that it really amounts to a complete liberation of the town. We do believe that the M23 continues to be positioned around the city," the official said.

Some M23 fighters remain in Uvira wearing police instead of military uniforms, two residents told Reuters on Tuesday.

Sporadic gunfire was heard on Tuesday morning from hills overlooking the Kalundu neighbourhood, one resident said.

Sources from M23 and the Congolese army blamed each other for the violence in recent days.

Rwanda denies backing M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for the renewed fighting. A report by a United Nations group of experts in July assessed that Rwanda exercised command and control over the rebels.

M23 is not party to the Washington-mediated negotiations, but is negotiating separately with Kinshasa in Qatar.

WAR STRAINS PUBLIC FINANCES, IMF SAYS

The recent fighting has sent over 84,000 refugees into Burundi this month, overwhelming its capacity, the U.N. refugee agency said last week.

About 500,000 people have been displaced in South Kivu province since early December, and the World Food Programme is scaling up aid for 210,000 vulnerable people.

M23's lightning advance this year in North and South Kivu has cost Congo 0.4% of GDP, while exceptional security spending nears $3 billion, IMF mission chief Calixte Ahokpossi told Reuters.

"If (insecurity) continues in the medium term and they have to continue cutting spending, particularly on investment and social programmes, it will have an impact on growth and the future of the country," he said. REUTERS